Building Vocabulary

Chapter 1

Research & Principles

Introduction

Every lesson is a language lesson regardless of the content. Academic outcomes are hugely influenced by whether language is taught arbitrarily or with intent. The purpose of this chapter is to explore a variety of research and principles related to vocabulary instruction.

Objectives

Participants will demonstrate understanding of the relationship between academic achievement and vocabulary knowledge.

Participants will demonstrate understanding of the word knowledge continuum.

Participants will demonstrate understanding of layers of word knowledge.

Participants will demonstrate understanding of four principles of vocabulary instruction.

Academic Achievement &

Vocabulary Knowledge

Why Vocabulary?

Low SES students know about half the number of words as higher SES students.

Lower achieving students know about a fourth the number of words as higher achieving students.

There is a strong relationship between academic achievement and vocabulary knowledge.

(Saville-Troike, Graves, Brunetti, Slater, Smith)

(Marzano – ascd.org)

Why Vocabulary?

Robust vocabulary instruction is effective for learning word meanings, but more importantly for directly impacting reading comprehension. (Beck, Perfetti, McKeown, Omanson, Pople)

Knowledge of a topic is contained in the terms relevant to the topic. Understanding the terms makes it easier to understand the topic (encapsulated meaning). (Marzano, Stahl, Fairbanks)

Encapsulated Meaning

Hiking: switchback, trekking, trail difficulty, terrain, strenuous, moderate, novice, timberline, trail, summit, ascent, descent

Data Analysis: statistics, central tendency, mean, median, range, mode, standard deviation, trend, reliability, outlier, sub-group, correlation

The more terms you know related to the topic, the better you understand the topic.

(Marzano)

Word Knowledge Continuum

Word Knowledge Continuum

No knowledge of the word General sense of the word Contextually narrow knowledge of the word Knowledge, but little or no ready recall Deep, decontextualized knowledge

(Beck, McKeown, Omanson)

Word Knowledge Continuum

Understanding generally stops at a contextually narrow understanding of the word without direct, deliberate vocabulary instruction.

Students may remember what the word is related to, but cannot apply it to a variety of situations.

(Beck, McKeown, Omanson)

Word Consciousness &

Layers of Word Knowledge

Word Consciousness

We generally have some sense of when a sentence seems “wrong,” but we may not be able to describe the problem, even if our first language is English.

*The boys made their chores.

*What age do you have?

*The woman is five feet high.

Developing word consciousness skills is important, especially for English learners.

(Zimmerman)

Word Consciousness

“An awareness and appreciation of words and the ability to reflect on their use…an alertness to words…is essential for comprehending the language of schooling.”

Learners benefit when there are classroom discussions, activities, practice, and opportunities to experiment with register, precision of words, and differences in word choice and usage.

(Lederer, Scott, Nagy, Zimmerman)

Layers of Word Knowledge

Meaning Collocations Grammatical features Word parts Register

(Zimmerman)

Layers of Word Knowledge

Meaning

Positive/negative connotation

The lady is petite/ dumpy.

Degree/strength

She hoarded the magazines.

(Zimmerman)

Layers of Word Knowledge

CollocationCertain words occur with certain other words

Fixed phrases

*Small sums of people were there.

Prepositions

*They discriminated me.

(Zimmerman)

Layers of Word Knowledge

Grammatical Features

Passive/active verbs

*I am fit by a size 8 skirt.

Verb complements

*I like to race because I enjoy to go fast.

Count/uncountable nouns

*The countertop is black marbles.

Parts of speech

*Don’t bubble the gum in my face.(Zimmerman)

Layers of Word Knowledge

Word Parts

Wrong suffix

*The phone was ringing continuing.

Incorrect word building

*There is great bondage between the dog and his toy.

(Zimmerman)

Layers of Word Knowledge

RegisterAppropriate Forms

Formal/informal

Hey, dude! What’s up? (employee to boss)

Polite/impolite

Physically impaired / cripples can live active lives.

Direct/euphemistic

I heard that your cousin died / passed.

(Zimmerman)

Four Principles of Vocabulary Learning/Instruction

Four Principles

1. “Students need to be active in developing their understanding of words and ways to learn them.”

Concept-mapping Word sorts Developing their own strategies Activities/structures with a partner or small

group(Blachowicz, Fisher)

Four Principles

2. “Students should personalize word learning.”

Mnemonic strategies Personal dictionaries Non-linguistic representations

(Blachowicz, Fisher)

Four Principles

3. “Students should be immersed in words.”

Word walls Comparing/contrasting words orally and in

writing Bringing attention to words

(Blachowicz, Fisher)

Four Principles

4. “Students should build on multiple sources of information to learn words through repeated exposures.”

See and hear more than once Multiple sources of meaning Verbal environment

(Blachowicz, Fisher)

Exposure

ExposureExposure

ExposureExposure

Exposure

The Verbal Environment

Build on natural context using “grown up” words– Upon meeting: Hello, salutations, greetings, good

afternoon– Asking about vacation: Revitalizing, pleasant, truncated– A student working hard: tenacious– Completion of good work: remarkable– The loss of a favorite item: desolate

Post words, refer to them, and use them often

(Beck, McKeown, Kucan)

Recap of Four Principles

Students need to be

ACTIVE in developing understanding, PERSONALIZE word learning,

be IMMERSED in words, and

have REPEATED EXPOSURES to words.

(Blachowicz, Fisher)

Effective Instruction

For vocabulary instruction to be effective, we must move beyond asking students to simply look up a definition, write a sentence, and draw a picture. Effective vocabulary instruction must be deliberately planned, consistently executed, rigorous in its expectations, and engaging for students.

Chapter 3 discusses vocabulary instruction.

Summary

There is a strong relationship between academic achievement and vocabulary knowledge.

Knowledge of a topic is contained in the terms relevant to the topic. Understanding the terms makes it easier to understand the topic.

Understanding generally stops at a contextually narrow understanding of the word without direct, deliberate vocabulary instruction.

“Word consciousness is an awareness and appreciation of words and the ability to reflect on their use…an alertness to words…is essential for comprehending the language of schooling.”

Layers of word knowledge include: meaning, collocations, grammatical features, word parts, and register/appropriateness.

Four principles of vocabulary learning/instruction include: students being active in developing understanding, students personalizing word learning, students being immersed in words, and students having repeated exposures to words.

Readings

Making Content Comprehensible for English Learners: The SIOP Model by Echevarria, Vogt, and Short

Bringing Words to Life: Robust Vocabulary Instruction by Beck, McKeown, and Kucan

Building Academic Vocabulary by Marzano and Pickering

Word Knowledge: A Vocabulary Teacher’s Handbook by Zimmerman